Paddler breaks records for a cause

Sept. 21, 2013

Updated 1:59 p.m.

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Susie Campbell, front, waves a banner with names of war veterans as she rides the last few hundred feet in to Dana Point on the paddle board of Will Schmidt, who just completed a 7-day journey paddling the inner Channel Islands to raise money for Wounded Warriors. Campbell is the captain of his support ship, "Campbell's Sloop." LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Family and friends gather on Baby Beach in Dana Point to welcome Will Schmidt of Laguna Niguel after he competed a 7-day journey paddling the inner Channel Islands to raise money for Wounded Warriors. The captain of his support boat Susie Campbell rides in with Schmidt. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Krissie Marriner, left, greets Will Schmidt as he walks onto Baby Beach in Dana Point after completing a 7-day journey paddling the inner Channel Islands to raise money for Wounded Warriors. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Friends and support crew gather around Will Schmidt, right, draws a map in the sand as he details his 7-day journey paddling the inner Channel Islands. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Susie Campbell, front, waves a banner with names of war veterans as she rides the last few hundred feet in to Dana Point on the paddle board of Will Schmidt, who just completed a 7-day journey paddling the inner Channel Islands to raise money for Wounded Warriors. Campbell is the captain of his support ship, "Campbell's Sloop." LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

More info:

Age: 33

Pounds he lost: 15

Blisters on hands: About 30

Total hours paddled: 45– 50 hours.

Sunscreen: Zinka pure zinc oxide and Hippo stick for face.

Food: Gel packs called "Goo," shake supplements, raw honey and bottles of water with airborne and emergency.

For luck: He wore his grandfather's World War II dog tags. His grandfather, Lester Winegar, was drafted into the Army, then re-enlisted in the Air Force.

The seas were raging, with five-foot seas and 15-mile-an-hour winds battering Will Schmidt as he dug his paddle into the choppy ocean’s surface.

He had left Oxnard last Saturday morning and was en route on the first leg of his mission – to get to Anacapa Island.

It took him 5 ½ hours to go just 16 miles. And he had more than 200 miles to go.

“It was a battle,” he said. “It was cold, it was miserable. And I had just started.”

Schmidt set records last week by becoming the first person to touch all the inner Channel Islands consecutively, a 220-mile journey that took him seven days to complete before he touched land at Baby Beach in Dana Point on Friday evening. He set out to do the mission to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and Casa Hogar, a nonprofit that helps orphans in Mexico.

It was on the trek to get to Santa Rosa Island that things got too tough to handle. Originally, Schmidt wanted to touch all eight Channel Islands, but after 32-mile-an-hour winds and 10-foot swells wouldn’t ease up, they had to ditch that goal and settle for touching all the inner islands instead. The boat his crew was on, a 38-foot vessel out of Dana Point called “Sloop” captained by Susan Campbell, could barely move.

“At that point, we said it’s unsafe to take the boat and crews, let alone leave a paddler with a piece of foam in the ocean,” said Schmidt, a Laguna Niguel resident. “It was stuff you see on (the TV show) ‘Deadliest Catch.’ It was unbelievable.”

He paddled 44 miles from Santa Cruz Island to Santa Barbara Island, which he called the “one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in California,” describing sea lions everywhere and the clear waters.

He said he was feeling sore, but that the pain was manageable. The mental aspect of the paddle was just as hard as the physical, and it was much like a chess match always thinking about the next step, he said.

“If I lost my mind for even a second, I lose my heading, lose my balance. Your mind had to be focused on what you’re doing 100 percent. It was just as mentally draining,” he said.

His jaunt to Catalina Island was the best day as he paddled downwind, he said.

“I just got to take long, 50-foot glides,” he said.

It was dark as he arrived to the backside of Catalina, and he was using a headlamp and the full moon to see where he was going. Just as he was approaching the island, he was startled by something that leapt out of the water.

“Next thing you know, something comes up and smacks me in the butt cheek,” he said with a laugh as he described the 6-inch flying fish that landed on his board. Another one hit him in the leg a few minutes later.

He left Catalina to head to San Clemente Island, a 27-mile stretch. The island serves as training grounds for the military, but after telling the fleet commander that he was raising money for Wounded Warriors, he got permission to touch down on land.

The following day, he headed back to Catalina and got in with enough time to relax on land, chow down on a Buffalo burger and send out some emails.

On Friday morning, he departed for the last stretch, from Catalina to Dana Point. Schmidt had done this 45.2-mile trek once before, his first major paddle last April that he set out to do to help battle his severe depression that had him near suicide. With this latest one, he’d become the first person to do the solo stand-up paddle from Catalina to Dana Point twice.

As he was about 10 miles out, his crew let him know he was in line to beat the 14-foot solo Catalina paddle record. So he picked up his pace, at some points reaching 7 miles an hour.

He ended up beating a record set in 2009 by Jared Vargas, who had the previous time on a 14-foot paddleboard set at 7 hours and 52 minutes. Schmidt’s time came in at 7 hours and 47 minutes. He also beat the most miles on a stand-up paddleboard in the Channel Islands by completing 220 miles. The previous record was held by Karen Wreen, who had 150 miles.

He gathered sand from all five Channel Islands - Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Clemente and Catalina – as he touched the shore.

When Schmidt got to Baby Beach in the Dana Point Harbor, he said he collapsed on the sand.

“I felt amazing. It was the biggest endorphin rush. I never felt so good,” he said.

Friends were there to greet him, some with tears in their eyes.

“I was too tired to cry. We popped a bottle of champagne,” he said. “I would say this was the most amazing experience of my life.”

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